I concur that HSBC seem to be the best of a very bad bunch; banks, in general, make the mafia seem like pussycats.
Thanks for posting your experiences and prices you've paid for TT....I was beginning to wonder if Nat West were just picking on me, for a minute there....I got quite paranoid
£40+ quids for a TT? Blimey....this seems to say to me that banks don't really give two toots for smaller businesses [say, sub £100K T/O businesses or sole traders etc]...and they just take the urine and charge as much as they can get away with. The charges seem to bear no relation to 'cost' or 'fair markup' on cost.
Also, in the past afore I started to use 3rd party currency transfer services like TM and Ruesch
http://www.ruesch.com/ [well established, reputable, major player who also charge £10 per inward or outward transfer....but their exchange rate is not as good as TM or perhaps HSBC, maybe]....I would get one Nat West geezer/geezeress on the phone giving me one price for xx amount of TT and yet another giving me another price for self same amount....almost varying the price to maximise the income, dependant upon what time of day it was. That's just my experience with Nat West....but in the main, to my limited experience [2 business bank accounts from 2 banks running concurrently for a long while]...they are all shysters. Wouldn't trust any of 'em with me savings
The mattress is safer
Out of interest...would people be interested in comparing the varying TT charges they've been levied, here, just for comparisons in the main, etc? Gripes on said charges, gratefully read and welcomed!
Thanks again, your experiences have given me some reassurance [that it's just not me suffering from a banker who spreads it thick and wide, charge wise].
Mike